The Angel, I Say, But
Demon?

Word-Bound Celestials, be they angelic or demonic, are everywhere
in In Nomine. If a celestial doesn't HAVE a Word, chances are
they're working to get one. You get a pretty good range of Words in
there, but we here at jnm(MNJ) couldn't
help but notice that you probably couldn't write a basic sentence by
lining six Angels in a row. This terrible lack comes from whole
segments of the language that's been cruelly neglected, always in favor
of flashier Words like Shiny Things or
Not-Eating-Cabbage.

Well, ever obsessed with providing services the gaming community
never even knew it was lacking, we have, after much thought and too
much caffeine, come up with the usual pair - one Good and one Evil -
to fill in at least part of this lack. Hopefully, this humble
offering will inspire others from this much-ignored category.
Of. An. If. What. Whee!

If The Angel has a name beyond that, no one seems to know what it
is. He's just...The Angel. The Angel has been around for a very
long time, and almost everyone in Heaven seems to know him. Even the
ones who've never met him.

Yves granted him the word of The quite some time ago. The only
known effect is that when The Angel uses his Cherubim Resonance to
attune to something, that thing becomes somehow distinct from all
others of its type. Anyone can spot the difference. That's not just
a chair...it's The Chair. That's not just a Zaphod Beeblebrox...well,
you get the point. It's said that not even his beer comes in six
packs.

All in all, no one's quite sure what he does. When asked, he just
smiles, with that particular twinkle in his eyes, and explains that
The Angel doesn't do. He just is. Yves seems to have backed this up,
taking it a step further once and commenting that, in fact, he "has to
be."

He uses his songs liberally, and has never seemed terribly
concerned with Disturbance when he's on the Corporeal realm. He has
an arguably bad habit of ACTING like an Angel. Indeed, the only
reason he has a Flaming Sword at all is because "it's the sort of
thing The Angel really ought to have." Of course, though it's only a
level 1 Artifact, that's not just any Flaming Sword...it's (chorus)
THE Flaming Sword.

The Halo Numinus Corpus is, like Wings, a non-combat oriented
Song. When invoked, it grants a bonus equal to its Level to the PC's
Charisma, but it only lasts for a number of minutes equal to the check
digit.

Bartholomew, Balseraph Servitor of the Game in Service to Theft,
Demon of But

Bartholomew is at least in the running for the Least Liked Demon
in Hell. (The Least Liked Demon in Heaven is, of course, Dominic.)
He's cultivated a permanent smug smile and a kind of sneering chuckle
that could drive Novalis to violence. It's not uncommon for those who
know him to accidentally mispronounce his Word as, "Being a pain in
the But."

He has one powerful similarity to The Angel: He doesn't do
anything. It's not his fault, of course. It's only that things are
always cropping up at the last minute. See, he would have stolen the
Crown Jewels of England, But on the way he saw an opportunity to rob a
young girl of her innocence, But before he could do that someone he's
quite sure was a Malakim stepped in front of her, so he decided to
destroy the Angel, But...

Moreover, his Word isn't simply Excuses. The Demon of Excuses (a
servitor of Nightmares) has enough rivalry with him, to be sure, but
Bartholomew also cheerfully conflicts with Factions' Demon of
Nitpicking. Oh, he tried to patch that up, But she was being so
unreasonable. Even when he complimented her, saying she was quite
good at her job, But she just had to get over that little problem of
being a delusional Habbalah, But, oh, that's impossible, isn't it?

Apart from that, his only real overlap seems to be with Dark
Humor's Demon of Conceptual Conflict. They actually get along fine,
But then, they've never met.

He's managed to cultivate a long-running feud with the Angel of
Butlers. He once complimented Andrealphus on her lovely Buttocks.
He's been demoted twice for sniggering about Valefor's Butterfingered
attempt to steal Yves's Heart. And he claims Kronos won't let him in
the library because of his talent for reading Butween the lines.

He has a definite knack for avoiding work. Whenever there's a
major project, he's simply nowhere to be found. But then, who would
want to go looking very hard...?

j n m ( m n j
)"It is always well to accept your own shortcomings with
candor but to regard those of your friends with polite
incredulity." -- anonymous sig file